A group of former executives of high profile British retail brands are planning to launch a department store online in China, via JD.com.
The creators of the virtual department store to be called The Jack Russell Emporium are ex Marks & Spencer, Burberry and Jonathan Saunders. The new store will go live in September.
It will stock goods from brands such as Hackett, Reiss and Jigsaw, targeting the rising ranks of China’s middle class who aren’t yet quite cashed up enough to splurge on Louis Vuitton.
“That emerging market has disposable income for the first time; they are cultured and may have travelled to the UK once or twice so they don’t want domestic product, but they cannot afford luxury brands like Burberry and Louis Vuitton,” co-founder Jamie Powell, told Drapers.
The Jack Russell Emporium will launch with 10 brands initially and expand to 25 by Christmas, before adding a further 75 brands next year.
